Ashes, Ashes
by GorensGirl
Summary: The SVU squad realizes just how little they know about everyone's favorite shrink. Slight spoiler for "Coerced" in chapter one. Huang/OC.
1. Chapter 1

**Ashes, Ashes  
**_by Z.E. Grockle_

Disclaimer: Law & Order: SVU belongs to Dick Wolf and the writers, not me. I think you'd notice if I started writing for the show.  
Summary: The SVU squad realizes just how little they know about everyone's favorite shrink. Slight spoiler for "Coerced" in chapter one. Huang/OC.  
Rating: It's somewhat of a casefile, so T.  
Author's Notes: I wrote this after my cable went out in the middle of one of my favorite Huang scenes. The one in "Chameleon," you know, when he smiles at some wisecrack the suspect made, and then realizes she's playing him and smiles with just his eyes? Yeah, I was ticked when I didn't get to see that, so I went searching for fan fiction to fill my craving, and I discovered something quite distressing. There just aren't enough Huang-centric stories out there for addicts like me to get a fix. My name is Z.E. Grockle, and I'm a Huang-oholic.

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Special Victims Squad Room  
Saturday, March 22nd, 2008  
7:12 PM  
_Chung, chung!_

"She's deteriorating," Huang said, the tone of his voice and set of his head reeking of 'how-can-I-make-this-any-more-clear?' "If we push her more today, she might shut down completely. She needs rest and medication."

"Well, what about your bag of tricks?" Elliot asked, as much exasperated as the doctor was.

"Haven't we been over that before?" Huang said, raising his eyebrows. Elliot sighed. He remembered only too clearly what had happened the last time he forced Huang to medicate a suspect.

"Alright," said Cragen, "I'll call Bellevue to come pick her up, and we'll try again tomorrow." He glanced from Elliot to Olivia, and then over at Fin, Munch, and Lake. "It's late; why don't you all go home for the night?" he said, before turning to go into his office.

"Guess you'll make that date after all," Elliot said to Olivia, picking up his suit jacket.

"Miracles do happen," she replied with a grin.

"You got any wild plans for tonight?" Lake asked Munch.

"Yeah. There's a civil war documentary on the History Channel," the older man replied.

"That's pathetic," Fin said. "Not that I've got anything exciting going on, either," he added ruefully.

"Well, I get to go home and change diapers," Elliot said as they boarded the elevator. "Just when I thought those days were over."

The door was almost closed when Huang ran around the corner and stuck his hand in it. It opened again, and they all stared at him. Never in anyone's memory had the doctor run anywhere.

"I just got a call. There's a case at Mercy General," he said, stepping onto the elevator with them and sounding strangely tense. "I'm coming along."

"Why'd they call you?" Fin asked.

"It's my partner's niece. He called me," Huang explained as he hit the button to close the door several times in rapid succession. Elliot blinked. He definitely hadn't seen the shrink this rattled before.

"You have a partner?" Lake asked, clearly confused.

"My domestic partner, Andrew Azrael. His niece's name is Lily Azrael. She's five. She's staying with us because her mother's out of town for the week," he said, then paused to take a breath and looked around at their surprised faces. "Well? Why aren't you writing this down?" he demanded.

Olivia pulled out her notepad. "Sorry," she said. "Could you spell the last name?"

"A-z-r-a-e-l," Huang said as the elevator stopped and the doors opened. He stepped off it and led them outside.

"Go back upstairs and tell Cragen where we're going," Elliot said to Lake, Fin, and Munch under his breath as he opened the driver's side door of his squad car and got in. "We'll call you after the interview."

Huang got into the back seat, still talking. "Lily's mother, Sarah, had to go to London on business. She left this morning; she's supposed to be back on Friday. Andrew took Lily out for the day. When they got back, he started to give her a bath, and he noticed that her genital area was red and inflamed. He asked her what happened, but she started to cry and refused to talk about it. They're in a cab to the hospital now."

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This is a short chapter, so I'm going to post the next one right away. You could be lazy and go read it before you review, but I'm offering a cookie to anyone who reviews _this_ chapter, and an extra cookie to anyone who can tell me what '90s TV star would be Andrew's identical twin brother. The hint is in his name. :holds plate of delicious cookies _just_ out of reach:


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Disclaimer: SVU belongs to Dick Wolf, but Andrew and his family are mine, all mine. :insert evil cackle here:  
Author's Notes: Lily is heavily based on my little half-sister Hallie, who just turned five. I can only hope nothing as horrible as what happened to Lily happens to her. Oh, and I used Google maps to pick a random address in this chapter. I have no idea what's actually there.

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ER Waiting Room**  
**Mercy General Hospital**  
**_Chung, chung!_

Huang walked into the waiting room first, and immediately moved towards a tall, blond man with a little girl on his hip who was standing at the check-in desk with his back to them. "Andrew."

The man turned around and saw the doctor and the two detectives. "George," he said, looking relieved, and Huang took his free hand with his own. Then he tugged gently on the girl's blond ponytail with his other hand.

"Hi, Lilabee," he said, smiling at her.

She gave him a wobbly, teary-eyed smile back and said, "Hi, Uncle George."

"Lily, I'd like you to meet some friends of mine. This is Detective Benson, and this is Detective Stabler," Huang said, gesturing to each detective in turn, "but you can call them Olivia and Elliot."

"Hi," Lily said, and then hid her face against Andrew's chest.

Olivia stepped closer to her. "That's a very pretty bow in your hair, Lily," she said.

Lily turned her face to look at her shyly. "Thank you. I picked it out all by myself."

"You did? I wish my hair was long enough to put in a bow like yours," Olivia said.

Lily contemplated the detective's hair seriously for a moment. "I think it could work," she said, "With the right styling."

Meanwhile, Elliot was showing his badge to the nurse behind the desk. "We'll need a rape kit done right away," he said.

"Of course," said the nurse, and picked up the phone to page a doctor.

A few minutes later, another nurse led them to an examination room with cartoon characters on the walls. "Dr. Brooks will be with you in just a moment," she said, closing the door as she left. Barely four seconds passed before it opened again and a brunette in a lab coat came in.

"I'm Dr. Brooks," she said, "and you must be Lily." She smiled at the girl.

"Mr. Azrael, why don't we go out into the hall while the doctor examines Lily?" Elliot said to Andrew.

"I don't want to leave her," Andrew said, holding his niece closer.

"Lily will feel more comfortable if we're not here," Huang said quietly, putting his hand on Andrew's arm. The other man looked at him for a moment, then set Lily down on the bed.

"Uncle George and I will be just outside this room, okay sweetie?" he said.

"Olivia's going to stay with you," Huang added. Lily nodded, and they followed Elliot into the hallway.

The detective pulled out his notepad. "Could you just take me through what you did with Lily today, Mr. Azrael?" he asked.

"It's Dr. Azrael, actually," Andrew said.

"Don't tell me you're a shrink too," Elliot said, raising his eyebrows.

"No, my doctorate is in English. I'm a teacher at A. Hoffman Academy," Andrew explained.

"Ah. Well, Dr. Azrael, how did Lily get to your apartment today?" Elliot asked.

"I have this week off for spring break, so when Sarah, my sister, had to go to London she asked if we could take Lily. Sarah's flight left JFK at ten. I met her at the airport at nine and I brought Lily home with me after she took off."

"You two live together?" Elliot asked, looking from Andrew to Huang.

"Yes," said Huang, "for a little over three years, now."

Andrew didn't notice the surprised look on the detective's face, and continued, "Lily hadn't eaten since early this morning, so I made some sandwiches for a picnic, and we left the apartment around noon to go to Central Park. We ate by the Hans Christian Anderson statue, and then we went to the park zoo." He paused and glanced behind him at the blinds covering the window to the exam room. "Uh, we got back home around five. Lily watched a few of cartoons while I graded some essays, and then I made her dinner, and then I started to give her a bath." He stopped again and ran a hand through his hair. "When I took her panties off, I noticed that she was red, and she looked swollen. I asked her if she'd hurt herself, and she just started to cry and said she didn't want to talk about it. I called George right away."

"And I told him to take her here," Huang said.

"Did you notice anyone paying special attention to Lily today?" Elliot asked.

"No," Andrew said, shaking his head.

"Was Lily away from you at any point?" Elliot asked.

"No, I was always with her," Andrew said. "It must have happened yesterday."

Huang asked, "How was she acting today?"

"She was a little upset when Sarah left us at the gate, but I told her we were going to the zoo, and then she seemed fine, up until the bath," Andrew said.

"Where's Lily's father?" Elliot asked.

"He left my sister shortly after she found out she was pregnant with Lily and went to California. We haven't heard from him since. That's why Lily has Sarah's maiden name," Andrew explained.

"Have you contacted your sister, told her what's going on?" Elliot asked.

"I tried calling her in the cab on the way here, but her hotel and her company have no idea where she is, and her cell phone is turned off. I left messages."

"Okay. We'll need to talk to her when she calls back. Do you know what Lily did yesterday?"

"Well, she has kindergarten in the morning, and then in the afternoon she goes to a daycare center on uh, 142nd street and Convert Ave until three o'clock, and then the center's bus takes her to my father's. He watches her until my sister gets out of work and picks her up at five-thirty," Andrew said.

Huang asked, "Have you called your father?"

"I tried calling him in the cab. He hung up on me," Andrew replied, and then added to Elliot, "My father and I have been estranged for a number of years. You might have to call him yourself."

"What's his phone number?" Elliot asked.

Huang said, "It's 555-2369." Andrew blinked at him. "I thought I could convince him to go into family counseling," he explained.

"You're wasting your time," Andrew said. "Did he even talk to you?"

"No," Huang said, shaking his head. Elliot, meanwhile, copied the number down, and Olivia opened the door of the exam room.

"We're done in here," she said, and stepped back as they entered.

"How're you doing, Lilabee?" Huang asked. Lily held out her arms to him, and he picked her up, settling her on his hip.

"She did just fine," Dr. Brooks said, smiling. "That lollipop I promised you is at the nurses' station down the hall," she added, flipping Lily's ponytail.

"I'll take her," Huang said to Andrew, and then stepped into the hall again. Dr. Brooks turned to Andrew as the door closed behind him.

"Your niece has finger-sized bruising on the inside of her thighs and irritation in her genital area. She was definitely molested, but there's no evidence of penetration. No tearing or fluids." She looked at the detectives. "And no DNA. She'll have to tell you who did this to her."

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Next chapter: coloring! I effing love coloring! Also, a sweet little girl describes how she was victimized. That's not so good. But if you want to read it, you've gotta click the review button down there and give me motivation to keep going. Please?


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Disclaimer: I'm a poor college kid, not a TV producer or writer. You wouldn't get much if you sued me.  
Author's Notes: For all you sad people without cookies, Andrew's twin is John Dye. He played the angel of death named Andrew in _Touched By An Angel_, an odd show for an agnostic like myself to love, but there you go. Azrael is the traditional name for the archangel of death. I promise you, that is in no way foreshadowing. I simply like John Dye.

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Children's Interview Room  
Special Victims Unit  
9:30 PM  
_Chung, chung!_

"Lily, you remember how I told you once that there's a whole room where I work that's just for coloring?" Huang asked, squatting on the floor to look his niece in the eye.

"Uh-huh," she said, nodding tiredly, and then her eyes brightened. "Is this it?" she asked, looking around in wonder.

"Yep. I have to go work, but Olivia would like to color in here with you. Is that okay?" he asked.

Lily looked over her shoulder to where the detective stood in the doorway. "Okay," she said happily. "Where are the crayons?" Huang smiled and stood up as Olivia came forward and led the little girl to the table.

"I'll be back soon," he said before closing the door between the interview and observation rooms behind him.

"Your Uncle George told me that you're a really good colorer," Olivia said as she pulled out a box of crayons and a selection of coloring books.

"Yep, I have excellent find moder control and handy cord nation," Lily said proudly. Olivia laughed.

"He told you that, did he?"

"No, he told Mommy. But I heard him say it," she explained, opening the first coloring book Olivia put in front of her and flipping the pages until she came to a picture of a seal balancing a ball on its nose. Olivia sat down across from her at the child-sized table and opened the crayon box.

"I'm going to color a bunny rabbit," the detective said, after considering her choices. "What's that you're coloring?"

"A seal," Lily said, carefully selecting a gray crayon.

"Your Uncle Andrew said you went to the zoo today. Did you see any seals at the zoo?" the detective asked.

"Uh-huh. They were funny," Lily said, giggling.

"Yeah? What'd they do that was funny?"

"Stuck out their tongues and blew wet raspberries."

"That does sound funny," Olivia agreed. "You must like going to the zoo a lot." The little girl nodded, her tongue poking out of the corner of her mouth as she concentrated on her coloring. "What else did you do today?"

"Uncle Andrew and me had a picnic by the ugly duckling. That's Uncle Andrew's favorite statue in the whole park, 'cause it has a book in it," Lily said.

"Did you like having the picnic?" Olivia asked as she began coloring the top hat on her bunny a lurid green.

"Yeah. 'Cept Uncle Andrew made me eat my carrots. Yuk!"

"I don't like carrots much, either," Olivia said, leaning in conspiratorially and making a face. "Can you remember anything else you did today?"

"I said good-bye to Mommy at the airport this morning. She's going 'cross the ocean to work, but she'll be back real soon." Lily put down the gray crayon and chose a blue one for the ball.

"Yep, your Uncle George said she'll be back in just a few days," agreed Olivia.

"When we got back from the zoo, I watched Spongebob and Dora. And then we had dinner," Lily continued.

"What happened after dinner?" Olivia asked.

The little girl frowned. "Uncle Andrew was going to give me a bath, but then he took me to the doctor's instead," she said, biting her lip.

"Do you know why he took you to the doctor's?"

"'Cause I hurt my cootie bug," she said shyly.

"Do you remember when you hurt your cootie bug?" Olivia asked.

Lily shook her head. "Can I have the green, please?" she asked.

"Sure," said Olivia, handing the crayon over and picking up a neon purple one.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," said Olivia. They colored in silence for a few minutes.

In the observation room, Andrew asked, "Is it possible she's blocking it out?"

"It's possible," said Huang, "but it's more likely she just doesn't want to talk about it. Pedophiles often make the victim promise to keep it a secret, or they'll threaten the victim by saying they'll hurt the victim's family if anyone else finds out."

"Don't worry," said Elliot, "Olivia knows what she's doing. With enough time, she'll gain Lily's trust and get her to open up."

On the other side of the glass, Olivia asked, "Lily, do you remember what you did yesterday?"

"I went to school, and Jimmy Stevens pulled my hair."

"Well, that wasn't very nice of him," Olivia said in mock outrage. "Did you tell your teacher?"

"Uh-huh. He had to stay in for five minutes during recess, and he was mad at me for the rest of the day."

"Did Jimmy Stevens do anything else mean?" Olivia asked.

"No, I told him Uncle George would arrest him if he did," Lily said proudly. Olivia smiled.

Huang said, "She hasn't quite grasped the concept that I only _work_ with cops."

"What else happened in school?" Olivia asked.

"Nothing," Lily said, shrugging.

"What'd you do after school?"

"I went to the playhouse."

"She means the daycare center," Andrew said. "It's called Alice's Playhouse."

"And what'd you do there?" Olivia asked.

"We sang 'The Wheels on the Bus' and we took a nap," Lily said, making a face as she said 'nap'.

"You didn't like taking the nap?"

"No. Then I went to Grampa's." She paused, biting her lip. "I don't like him anymore."

"Why not?" Olivia asked, a small line appearing between her brows.

"'Cause he was mean," said Lily, her small mouth pouting.

Andrew shook his head. "I can't imagine my father would..." He stopped and swallowed. Huang took his hand and squeezed it gently as they continued watching.

"How was he mean?" Olivia asked, tilting her head to one side.

Lily sniffed, and started to explain tearfully. "Mommy came to pick me up, and she told Grampa I was going to stay with Uncle Andrew and Uncle George while she was away, and Grampa got mad and yelled. He called Uncle Andrew and Uncle George mean words I'm not apposed to say, and Mommy started crying. After we left, Mommy said Grampa doesn't love Uncle Andrew or Uncle George 'cause they sleep in just one bed, but she said Grampa's wrong not to love them 'cause they love each other lots, and that matters more than how many beds there are. She said I should go on loving them and not ever tell them that Grampa said the mean words."

Olivia listened, nodding. "You're mommy's right, sweetie. You should just go right on loving them."

On the other side of the glass, Andrew sighed. "Unfortunately, that is something I can imagine him doing all too easily," he said. "You see what I mean about wasting your time with the family counseling?" he added to Huang.

Olivia let Lily color in silence for a few more minutes and regain her composure, and then said, "Was there anything else that happened yesterday that you didn't like?"

Lily nodded slowly. "When I got in trouble for not taking my nap."

"At the playhouse?"

"Uh-huh."

"What happened when you got in trouble?" Olivia asked, tilting her head again.

"I can't say," said Lily, biting her lip.

"Why not, sweetie?"

Lily's face crumpled. "'Cause he'll hurt my mommy," Lily said, on the verge of tears again.

"Sweetheart, I promise you no one will hurt your mommy if you tell me what happened," Olivia said, covering the girl's small hand with her own. Lily sniffed, but didn't say anything. "Who told you they'd hurt your mommy?" Olivia coaxed.

The little girl looked at the door, then took a deep, gasping breath. "Mr. Martin," she sobbed.

"Honey, who's Mr. Martin?" Olivia asked, leaning in closer.

"He's a teacher at the playhouse," Lily said tearfully. "He watches us when we take our naps, but I couldn't take a nap. I had to use the bathroom."

"What happened when you had to use the bathroom?" Olivia asked, while behind the glass Andrew said, "Oh, God," and covered his mouth with his right hand. Huang was squeezing the life out of his left hand, but neither of them noticed.

"Mr. Martin said I was in trouble for not taking my nap, and I had to be punished. He took me to the bathroom, and he... he helped me wipe my cootie bug. He h-hurt me," Lily said, forcing her words between sobs. "I told him he was hurting me, and I told him to st-stop, but he s-s-said it was my pu-punishment, and I couldn't t-tellll," she managed before breaking down crying completely.

Andrew turned to Cragen as Olivia began reassuring the little girl. "Please tell me you have all you need for now," he said, tears running down his own face. The captain nodded and opened the door to the interview room, letting the other man through.

Lily cried, "Uncle Andrew!" and ran to him. He picked her up and held her tightly.

"It's okay, baby," he said, rubbing her back. Huang remained in the observation room, watching for a moment, before turning and walking out without a word. Elliot looked after him.

"I'll go see if he's alright," Cragen said in an undertone to the detective. "You tell Fin, John, and Chester to track down this Mr. Martin. We're not giving him another night as a free man." Elliot nodded, and the captain went after Huang.

He entered the bathroom in time to hear the retching from the first stall. There was a pause, and then the toilet flushed and the doctor came out, stopping slightly as he saw Cragen standing in the entrance before going to the nearest sink. The captain watched in silence as the other man turned the water on and cupped his hands under the stream, then sucked some of the resulting pool into his mouth, rinsed, and spat it back out. He cupped his hands again and drank a few gulps, then splashed the rest of the liquid over his face. Sighing, he put one hand on either side of the sink basin and leaned heavily on the counter, letting the excess water drip off him as he stared into the drain. "I haven't reacted like that since the days when I was trying to cure the pedophiles," he said softly.

Cragen took a breath to speak. "You know that we'll make sure the bastard goes to jail, George."

Huang shook his head. "That doesn't change what happened to Lily," he said flatly.

"You're right," Cragen agreed. "But you know better than I do that with the right therapy, her prospects are- "

"It shouldn't have happened in the first place," Huang interrupted, straightening to face the captain abruptly. Anger was suddenly coiling in his every muscle and choking his voice. "She's _five_. She shouldn't need therapy." He stopped and pressed his lips together, then opened them on a sigh, visibly relaxing into a passing resemblance of his normal calm self. He closed his eyes and bowed his head. "I'm sorry," he said, shaking his head slightly. "None of this is your fault; I shouldn't take it out on you."

"No, feel free to take whatever you need to out on me. I insist," Cragen said, keeping his tone light but watching the other man worriedly.

"That won't be necessary, thank you," Huang said as he took some paper towels from the dispenser and wiped the last of the water from his hands and face. He threw the used paper towels away and walked back into the main squad room. Cragen followed, his brow furrowed.

Lake looked up as they came in. He was standing over Munch's desk, and the sergeant was speaking into the phone. "No, ma'am, she's fine. If you could just slow down a bit- "

"We finally got in touch with Sarah," Lake explained, "and now he's trying to calm her down. She's nearly in hysterics."

"Let me," said Huang, walking over and holding out his hand.

Munch said, "Ma'am, perhaps if you spoke with Dr. Huang," paused, and then handed it over.

"Sarah, it's George. Take a few deep breaths, please."

"What about Mr. Martin?" Cragen asked as Huang continued talking soothingly.

Fin hung up the phone he had been speaking into and said, "That was the owner of Alice's Playhouse. Apparently, the kids call him Mr. Martin, but she told me his real name is Martin Moravia."

"No record, no driver's license," Elliot added from his own desk.

"She keeps all the employee files at the playhouse," Fin said. "The minute I said molestation, she agreed to meet us there tonight."

"Get going," Cragen said, nodding to him and Lake. "John, Elliot, you go too, and get a client list. We need to find out how many other nap times Mr. Martin has ruined." He turned as the four detectives started to leave and Andrew came in, holding a still teary-eyed and very sleepy Lily and closely followed by Olivia.

"She's exhausted," Andrew said. "Could I take her home for the night?"

"Of course," said Cragen. "Olivia, go with John and Elliot."

Olivia nodded and picked up her coat, following the other detectives to the elevator. Huang, meanwhile, had finally managed to calm Sarah down somewhat, and said, "She's here now, do you want to talk to her?" He paused and then held the phone out to Andrew, who took it and said, "Lily, it's your mommy."

The little girl raised her head sleepily and let her uncle hold the phone to her ear. She sniffled, then said, "Hi, Mommy... I'm okay... Love you, too... 'Kay... 'Bye," before letting her head drop back against his shoulder.

"She's okay, just a little tired," Andrew said after transferring the phone to his own ear. "Yeah, we're going home for the night... Well, I think they need to talk to you."

He looked at Cragen, who said, "We can send someone to pick her up from the airport and talk to her on her way to your apartment." Andrew relayed this to Sarah, assured her again that everything was going to be fine, and then hung up.

"She's in a taxi to Heathrow right now. She's catching the next flight out in a few hours, and she should be touching down at JFK in the early morning." he said, rubbing Lily's back in small circles as he talked.

Cragen nodded. "Would you like a car to take you home?" he asked, looking from Andrew to Huang.

"We'd appreciate it, thanks," said Andrew, and Huang said, "Actually, I'm staying here."

Andrew and the captain both looked at him. "You know you can't be involved in the interviews or interrogations on this case," Cragen said.

"I know. I'd like to stay here, anyway," Huang said, and anyone would have thought he was perfectly calm. Cragen regarded him for a long moment.

Finally, he said, "Okay, stay if you like, but I can only let you observe, and not in your normal advisory capacity."

"That's fine," said the doctor quietly. Andrew blinked at him.

"What if I need help with Lily?" he asked.

"I'm sure you can handle it," Huang said. When the other man only furrowed his brow, he added, quieter yet, "I need to do this, Andrew. Please."

Andrew blinked again."Okay," he said slowly.

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Next chapter: more little kids to break your heart, and a shrink gets shrinked. Or would that be shrunk? Anyway, please review, 'cause I worked really hard on this one, and I'm anxious to know what you all think.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Disclaimer: I don't own Olivia, Elliot, John, Fin, Lake, Cragen, Huang, or Casey. If I did, Elliot would still be divorced, every episode would be Huang-centric, and Lake's first name sure as hell wouldn't be _Chester_.  
Notes: It's a horrible cliché, but the phrase "better late than never" does seem to apply here. Sorry about the dreadfully long delay in getting this chapter up, and thanks for sticking it out with me. I hope it's worth the wait.

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Olivia sat irritably in the rear of her own squad car. Munch had insisted he _had_ to sit in the front, or he would be carsick. She poked her knees vengefully into the back of his seat, but he didn't seem to notice. From behind the wheel, Elliot said, "How is it Huang's been living with this guy for three years, and dating him for who knows how long before that, and we're only just now hearing about him?"

"Huang always has been a private person," Olivia said. "He doesn't really talk about himself unless it's relevant to a case, does he? I mean, he only ever mentioned his sister once."

"Yeah," said Elliot, "but he's not living with his sister, is he?"

"I wasn't even sure he was gay until now," John said.

"Well, that I did know," Olivia said.

"I never really thought about it one way or the other," Elliot said, frowning. "He's just... the shrink. Liv, I think you had a better relationship with him than any of us."

"Which is why I'm so worried about him," Olivia said. "I've never seen him like this before."

"Can you blame him?" asked John.

**Alice's Playhouse  
Manhattan  
10:47 PM  
_Chung, chung_!**

"We appreciate your cooperation, Mrs. Pierce," said Lake as the five detectives followed the owner of the daycare center into her office at the rear of the building. She was a middle-aged woman wearing a designer pantsuit.

"Well, I can't believe that anything like that could happen in my center, but the safety of the children is paramount. I have Martin's employee file in the cabinet here," Mrs. Pierce said, crossing to a filing cabinet and opening the second drawer.

"We'll also need a client list," Elliot said, "to contact the parents of the other children."

Mrs. Pierce turned around, eyes wide. "You mean this happened more than once?"

"We're not sure," Olivia said as Fin took the file from the other woman's hand.

"Did you ever notice Mr. Moravia taking kids into the bathroom during nap time?" Fin asked.

"Oh, I use nap time to do office work. Martin watches the kids... oh, God. That's when it happened, isn't it?" Mrs. Pierce said, covering her mouth with her hand. "I want you to know, I do background checks on all employees. I never noticed Martin acting strangely or anything," she said, a note of pleading in her voice.

"Mrs. Pierce, often a perpetrator's own family won't suspect anything," Munch said.

"Oh, I just feel horrible about this." She turned back to the cabinet and pulled out another file. "Here's all the client information," she said, handing it to Olivia. "Do keep me updated, won't you?"

"We'll be in touch," Lake assured her.

Back on the sidewalk, Fin said, "Moravia lives in Queens. We'll head out now." He and Lake got into their squad car and drove off.

Olivia flipped open the file she was holding and said, "There's about thirty families here." She glanced at her watch. "It's late. The kids will all be in bed by now. Why don't we just head back to the house and start making phone calls?" Elliot nodded, and he and John opened the front doors of the remaining car. Olivia, sighing, opened the rear door and got in.

**Home of Martin Moravia  
Queens, New York  
11:22 PM  
_Chung, chung!_**

"What a dump," said Fin as they stepped onto Moravia's sagging porch. Lake could only agree. The tiny house was definitely a fixer-upper. He knocked on the door, and bits of paint flaked off and landed on his suit sleeve.

"Dammit!" he said, attempting to brush them off with his other hand.

Fin rolled his eyes and said loudly, "Police. Open up, Mr. Moravia." There was a long pause, then an old woman wearing mangy slippers and a grandmotherly-type outfit opened the door.

"Are you friends of Martin's?" she asked, looking up at them both over the top of her glasses.

"No, we're the police," said Fin, holding up his badge. "We need to speak to Martin."

"Oh, but Martin's not here," she said, tugging her cardigan tighter over her shoulders. "He went out an hour ago. I'm his grandmother. You can call me Betty." She smiled guilelessly at them.

"Betty, do you know where Martin is?" Lake asked.

"Oh, no, he doesn't tell me where he's going."

Fin asked, "Do you know when he'll be back?"

"No... but he should be back soon. He has my car, and I have to use it to get to church in the morning."

Fin nodded. "Alright, Betty, we'll be back in the morning, okay?"

"Okay," she said, and shut the door.

Lake headed back to the car, followed by Fin. "I'll let Cragen know we're waiting here on Moravia," the younger detective said.

**Special Victims Squad Room  
Sunday, March 23rd  
12:30 AM  
_Chung, chung!_**

"Ma'am, if you need transportation to get your daughter here, we could arrange a car to pick you both up and take her to school when we're done," Olivia said into her desk phone, rubbing her forehead with her free hand. At the desk across from her, Elliot hung up his own phone and looked up as Cragen came out of his office.

"Still no sign of Moravia at the grandmother's house," the captain said. "Where's Huang?"

"He was breathing down our necks, so we sent him to get coffee," Elliot said. "You sure it's a good idea for him to be here?"

"I'll keep him from bothering you, and send him home if I feel it's warranted. How's the phone canvas going?"

"I just got done with my last call, Liv and John are on theirs now," Elliot said, and Olivia hung up her phone.

"Mrs. Holden will be bringing her daughter Samantha in tomorrow at eight with all the rest," she said, and then looked at the clock. "Make that today at eight."

Huang walked in and set a cardboard tray filled with coffee cups on Munch's desk. "Have you arrested him yet?" he asked.

Munch hung up his own phone and picked up the coffee marked with his name. "We've got thirty-two other families from the Playhouse coming in the morning, and Lake and Fin are still waiting for Moravia to come home," he said.

Huang sighed. "Can't you track him down some other way? You _are _detectives, right?"

"What do you suggest we do? Canvas the whole city?" Elliot asked.

"We're doing the best we can," Olivia said gently.

"Oh, well, that's all right, then," the doctor said, sarcasm dripping from his words. Olivia widened her eyes at him, taken aback.

"Why don't you come into my office, Doc?" Cragen said, taking the other man's elbow and steering him firmly through the office doorway. The captain shut the door behind them and turned to Huang. "As a psychiatrist, what would you tell a victim's family member to do in this situation?" he asked, keeping his voice calm. "Would you say, go home and get some rest? Or would you say, stay at the precinct and drive all the detectives crazy?"

Huang's mouth fell open incredulously. He pointed at the door and said, "They aren't even trying! They're- "

"Doing the best they can," the captain interrupted. "I realize how hard this must be for you, but you're not making it any easier on them. And I'm concerned for your mental health." He paused and then said, in a quieter tone, "I think you should go home."

The doctor drew himself up stiffly. "I'm fine," he said. "I just need to see Moravia behind bars, and I'll be fine."

"We'll call you as soon as we pick him up," Cragen said sympathetically, and then, in his best police-captain's voice, "Until then, go home, Dr. Huang. That's an order."

Huang narrowed his eyes. "With all due respect, I don't take orders from you," he said quietly.

"That may be, but this is still my squad room," Cragen replied tautly. He stepped closer to the other man and held his gaze for a long moment, then sighed and softened. "Don't make me get someone to escort you out, George."

Huang opened his mouth to speak, and closed it again. He stepped around the captain and turned the door knob. "Fine," he said, and left.

* * *

Casey Novak strode into the squad room with her usual punctuality at seven-thirty on the dot, and then blinked in surprise at the number of people that were already there. It looked like at least a dozen extra cops had been called in early. "The captain called me and said I should come right here?" she said questioningly to Elliot.

"Yeah, the Williams case is still stalled, but we picked up another one last night," Elliot said, rubbing a hand over his tired eyes. He had only gotten a few hours' sleep in the crib. "It's Huang's niece - or, actually, his partner's niece. Get this. He's been living with this guy for three years now- "

"You mean Andrew?" Casey interrupted, her brow furrowing. The three detectives looked at her in astonishment.

"You knew about Andrew?" Olivia asked.

"You didn't?" Casey asked, confused. They shook their heads, and she explained. "I went to Huang's apartment for some advice on a case one night last summer, and he was cooking this blond guy dinner. I apologized for interrupting when he had company, and he said, 'Andrew isn't company.' I thought you guys knew."

"No, he never mentioned him to us, until his niece was molested," John said. He filled her in quickly on the case details.

"So, where's Moravia now?" Casey asked. "And where's the doctor?" she added, looking around.

"He went home," Olivia said. "And Moravia's grandmother is supposed to be leaving for church in twenty minutes, but he still hasn't come back with her car. We're trying to figure out what we're going to do if he doesn't show."

"We've also got the other kids from the daycare center coming for interviews in half an hour, which is why we had to call in extra help," Elliot said, gesturing to the extra people milling around.

"And it looks like one of the kids made it in early," Munch said, looking towards the door, where a young woman stood holding a little boy by the hand. He stood up and went to introduce himself.

In the next half-hour, the rest of the children from the center trickled in, accompanied by their very distressed parents. Each was taken into a separate interview room, and then, as spaces began to run out, any spare room the detectives could find. Munch was questioning his second potential victim of the day, a dark-haired six-year-old girl named Annabella, in the break room while her mother waited in the squad room below.

"I told Mr. Martin that I'm a big girl, that I can use the bathroom by myself, but he said he had to go with me," the girl said, weeping.

Downstairs in one of the interrogation rooms, five-year-old Melissa was telling Lake almost the same story. Novak and Cragen watched from the other side of the mirror. "How many victims are we up to now?" Casey asked.

"Five," the captain replied. "All girls. And at least nine separate incidents, including Lily."

"Is it possible Lily was molested more than once?"

"Considering he molested the other victims more than once, I'd say yes. Maybe we stopped questioning her too early."

"Well, let's call her back in for a second interview. I want to be sure to get the maximum sentence on this creep."

Cragen nodded, then turned as a uniformed officer opened the door and stuck her head in. "There's an Andrew Azrael here that says he needs to talk to someone about the daycare center, Cap'n."

Andrew came forward as the captain reentered the squad room. Behind him, Cragen could see a woman with a strong resemblance to Lily. "Dr. Azrael, what can I do for you?" he asked.

"I thought you should know," the other man replied, "that after I took Lily home last night, she told me Friday wasn't the first time this had happened."

The woman came forward and said, "She came home from that place upset once before, but I thought it was because she'd been feeling sick that week."

"This is my sister, Sarah."

"Why don't you both come into my office?" Cragen suggested.

The brother and sister followed him into his office, and the captain shut the door. Sarah immediately began speaking again.

"She said that three weeks ago, she wet herself during nap time and that man -" She broke off, choking on sobs, and her brother put his arms around her, pulling her close in a gesture of comfort. At that moment, there was a knock on the door, and Huang entered without waiting for an answer.

"Olivia told me you were here," he said to Andrew. "Has something else happened?"

"Last night, Lily told Sarah and I that Friday was the second time it had happened."

Cragen, who was wondering where Huang had gone, as apparently this was the first time he'd spoken to Andrew since the day before, noticed that the doctor showed no reaction to this news, and made no move to join the circle of familial comfort. In fact, the captain saw with some concern, he stood as far from his partner and sister-in-law as he could get, against the wall in the manner he used most often in the observation room: professional and detached.

"Why didn't I realize?" Sarah asked brokenly, more to herself than any of them.

Her brother rubbed her back and said, "You can't think like that. None of us realized. George has years of training and experience in things like this, and even _he_ didn't realize. It isn't your fault."

"Your brother's right," Cragen told her, then added, "We need to speak to Lily again as soon as possible, to take a second statement."

"Oh, but she told us everything, and she's already been through so much without more questions," she said.

"I understand it's hard, Ms. Azrael, but we do need to hear it directly from Lily for legal reasons, and she may have left out some details with you that would be important."

"Alright," she said after a moment. "She's at her grandfather's. I'll go pick her up."

"You're too upset," Andrew said. "Why don't you call Dad and ask him to bring her?" His sister nodded and pulled out her cell phone, stepping away from her brother, towards the window. Andrew turned to look at Huang in a measuring way, and the other man returned his gaze with a blank face. After a moment the blond man asked, "Are you alright?" in a low, tense voice.

"Fine."

The word was said with no emotion, and it chilled Cragen's blood. The two partners stood looking at each other for several long minutes – one detached, the other troubled – as Sarah talked to her father and then closed the phone.

"He says they'll be here in half an hour," she told the captain, crossing to her brother's side again and missing, in her distress, the way he was looking at his partner. "Is that okay?"

"That'll be fine," Cragen said. "We're a bit cramped at the moment, but I'm sure we can find someplace for you to wait. Would you like a cup of coffee?" he asked, crossing between the two other men – he could almost feel the line of tension – to open the door and gesture to one of the many officers outside.

"Yes, that would be good," she said, attempting a weak smile. Cragen told the officer to find Ms. Azrael someplace to sit and get her a cup of coffee, and Sarah asked, "Andrew? George? Are you coming?" when they didn't start to follow her out the door.

"I need to speak to the captain," Huang said, and with one more long, questioning look at him, Andrew reluctantly left with his sister. As soon as the door was shut behind them, the doctor asked, "How many other victims?" His voice was still emotionless.

"Four, so far. We've got a few more kids to interview," Cragen replied, and then abruptly shifted his tone. "George, you're not fine. Let me call someone you can talk to about this." The flicker of anger he saw in the other man's eyes pleased him. Uncharacteristic as it was, at least it was something.

"I'll talk to someone about it after I see Moravia in handcuffs. Have you found him yet?"

Cragen sighed, then decided it was useless to argue at the moment. "He didn't come back with the car to drive his grandmother to church, but we put out an A.P.B. on it, and Elliot's checking his usual hang-outs. Look, there's nothing you can do here, and I'm sure Andrew, Sarah, and Lily could use your help at home. We'll call you as soon as anything happens with Moravia."

After a moment, the doctor nodded and left, and Cragen was relieved to see he spoke to the officer that had taken the Azraels and headed up the stairs to the break room. Then the captain noticed that his detectives and Novak were gathering around the dry-erase board.

"The interviews are done," Olivia told him as he joined them. "We've got six victims total, and fourteen separate incidents. Most were molested at least twice, and a couple of them three times. Lily seems to be the only one with a single incident." She gestured to the board, where they had pinned up photos of all the victims with their names and the dates of the molestations written beneath them. To the left of the line of young girls was a photo of Martin Moravia that they had gotten from his grandmother. He was a chubby man in his mid-twenties with a blond crew-cut.

"He got Lily twice, too," Cragen said, and told them what had happened in his office, although he didn't mention Huang's behavior. "I take it Elliot hasn't had any luck locating him?" Fin shook his head, and the captain sighed. "Okay, Fin and Lake, you go back to the Playhouse with a forensic team; see if we can get any evidence from the bathroom. John, call the owner and get her to unlock the place for them, and ask her to come in for an interview. Moravia's been working at that place for two years now; we need to know if any kids left suddenly or took a dislike to him – anything that could indicate other victims. See if she can help us find him, too. Liv, I need you here to interview Lily again. Her grandfather's bringing her in."

As Lake and Fin left and Munch picked up the phone, Olivia asked Cragen, "How's the doc doing? He seemed tense before he went into your office earlier." Cragen sighed and glanced up the stairs.

"He _was_ tense, and apparently he didn't go home at all last night. But I got him upstairs with Dr. Azrael and his sister. Hopefully they'll be able to talk to him a bit."

**Alice's Playhouse  
Manhattan  
11:20 AM  
_Chung, chung_!**

Lake and Fin stepped out of their squad car as they saw the same woman they had spoken to twelve hours ago approaching. "Good morning, Mrs. Pierce," Lake greeted her.

"Oh, I don't know how good, with those poor children being hurt right under my nose," she said worriedly, taking a ring of keys from her pocket and opening the door for them. "I'll show you where the bathroom is." She led them down a short hallway, but Fin quickly stopped her as she put out a hand to open the bathroom door.

"It would be better if you could wait out here, ma'am," he said. The woman nodded and stepped back to let Lake walk past, and the two detectives entered the room alone. They stopped just inside the door, and stared in shock. The body of Martin Moravia was laying on the tiles in a pool of blood.

**ZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZz**

:cheerfully hangs the readers off a cliff:

I promise you won't have to wait long for the next chapter: I've already written it. And speaking of future chapters, I seem to have miscalculated a bit which chapter would include the shrink getting shrunk. The story's developing differently than I'd imagined – which is what happens, I suppose, when you leave stories to simmer for months on end. Anyway, please review.


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